 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
An International Center for Indigenous Christian Leadership
Strategic Leadership Alliance
Key to World Mission: Indigenous Leadership
After preaching at a church in New Jersey this past summer, I had an opportunity to chat with the director of
Finishers Project. During our conversation about the important role of indigenous leaders and missionaries
in church growth and world evangelization, he said, “James, I believe the best thing that ever happened to
the Chinese Church is the communist take over of the mainland in 1949!”
His paradoxical comment poignantly pointed out the most critical aspect of world mission in the 21st
century: the centrality of indigenous leadership in world evangelization and the importance of quick and
timely abdication of foreign leadership in the indigenous churches and other Christian institutions.
One of the most important reasons why the underground Chinese Church grew so rapidly in the last five
decades (from 1 to 100 million!) is the indigenization of the church leadership which in turn brought about
the transformation of the life of the church into one that is authentically Chinese. This seemed to have aided
the unreached Chinese to understand the gospel better in its Chinese context, thereby helping them to
embrace Christ more easily and readily. In other words, absence of foreign leadership seemed to have
helped the church to become more
thoroughly Chinese and incredibly effective in evangelism.
A similar thing happened in the Korean Church during the Japanese occupation (1910-1945). With the
dramatic reduction of foreign missionaries and their eventual expulsion by the Japanese, the Korean
Church had to look inward for leadership and resources. What happened next is a marvel in world Christian
history. Within a couple of generations, a rapid church growth coupled with gradual but strategic penetration
of biblical principles into every aspect of the Korean society have transformed it into the uniquely evangelical
country in Asia.
Sadly, some indigenous missionaries are repeating the mistakes of the past. As a case in point, some
missionaries from a major missionary sending nation in Asia, and who constitute about 60% of the
missionaries to Mongolia, are the source of a current debate. When the East Asia director of a major
international relief agency visited Mongolia recently, young Mongolian pastors were explaining to him the
many difficulties they face working with the missionaries. These missionaries were reluctant to let young
Mongolians lead or have real ownership in ministry. Such problems are usually compounded by the local
church becoming too dependent on foreign funds, and the expatriates’ excessive preoccupation with
building projects.
As I see it, the only biblical way to turn the tide is to implement
the apostolic strategies found in the Book of Acts, that is, the strategy of itinerant ministry which discourages
long-term leadership of foreign missionaries on one hand and one that encourages rapid equipping of local
leadership and simultaneously promoting local ownership on the other.
By LGZ, Messenger (Feb. 1, 2002)
Book Reviews
After preaching at a church in New Jersey this past summer, I had an opportunity to chat with the director of
Finishers Project. During our conversation about the important role of indigenous leaders and missionaries
in church growth and world evangelization, he said, “James, I believe the best thing that ever happened to
the Chinese Church is the communist take over of the mainland in 1949!”
His paradoxical comment poignantly pointed out the most critical aspect of world mission in the 21st
century: the centrality of indigenous leadership in world evangelization and the importance of quick and
timely abdication of foreign leadership in the indigenous churches and other Christian institutions.
One of the most important reasons why the underground Chinese Church grew so rapidly in the last five
decades (from 1 to 100 million!) is the indigenization of the church leadership which in turn brought about
the transformation of the life of the church into one that is authentically Chinese. This seemed to have aided
the unreached Chinese to understand the gospel better in its Chinese context, thereby helping them to
embrace Christ more easily and readily. In other words, absence of foreign leadership seemed to have
helped the church to become more
thoroughly Chinese and incredibly effective in evangelism.
A similar thing happened in the Korean Church during the Japanese occupation (1910-1945). With the
dramatic reduction of foreign missionaries and their eventual expulsion by the Japanese, the Korean
Church had to look inward for leadership and resources. What happened next is a marvel in world Christian
history. Within a couple of generations, a rapid church growth coupled with gradual but strategic penetration
of biblical principles into every aspect of the Korean society have transformed it into the uniquely evangelical
country in Asia.
Sadly, some indigenous missionaries are repeating the mistakes of the past. As a case in point, some
missionaries from a major missionary sending nation in Asia, and who constitute about 60% of the
missionaries to Mongolia, are the source of a current debate. When the East Asia director of a major
international relief agency visited Mongolia recently, young Mongolian pastors were explaining to him the
many difficulties they face working with the missionaries. These missionaries were reluctant to let young
Mongolians lead or have real ownership in ministry. Such problems are usually compounded by the local
church becoming too dependent on foreign funds, and the expatriates’ excessive preoccupation with
building projects.
As I see it, the only biblical way to turn the tide is to implement
the apostolic strategies found in the Book of Acts, that is, the strategy of itinerant ministry which discourages
long-term leadership of foreign missionaries on one hand and one that encourages rapid equipping of local
leadership and simultaneously promoting local ownership on the other.
By LGZ, Messenger (Feb. 1, 2002)
Book Reviews
Jonathan D. Spence, The Chan’s Great Continent: China in Western Minds. (New York: W. W. Norton
& Company, 1998).— A very eye-opening treatise of how the Western minds from Marco Polo to Pearl
Buck and then to Kissinger have shaped the West’s opinion on China. From the admiration of
Chinese cultural superiority in the Middle Ages to the fantasizing of it as a land of mystery and
exotics, and then recently to demonization as a hotbed of madness and radicalism, Spence
masterfully points out the mystery of Western fascination with China as a subconscious self-
projection of the most truthful kind. This book will help those of us interested in China mission to
begin to set aside the centuries-old stereo-types of the Chinese by respecting them as unique
individuals which will inevitably result in our missionary endeavor becoming much more effective.
Louise Levanthes, When China Ruled the Seas. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).— A
fascinating study of the Ming China (1368-1644) in its early years as a world naval power whose
suzerainty over a vast sphere of influence from East Africa to the Spice Islands almost catapulted her
as the master of the world. The author accurately points out one of the chief reasons for the eventual
humiliation of China as a secondary world power: the traditional Confucian distaste and disrespect
for the mercantile enterprise. However, the book is very helpful in visualizing prophetically the
imminent rise of China as a superpower in the 21st century through her creative synthesis of
traditional and biblical principles into one that is authentically Chinese.